Food delivery drivers in Canada do not set a price; the app offers pay per delivery, and what you actually earn per hour depends on how many offers you accept, the tips, and what your vehicle costs per kilometre. Two official floors now apply in some provinces: Ontario requires platforms to pay at least the general minimum wage ($17.95 an hour from October 1, 2026) for time on work assignments, and British Columbia requires $21.89 per hour of engaged time plus $0.35 per kilometre. Neither covers time spent waiting between orders, which is why per-hour math after costs matters. This guide suits drivers who want to judge offers with numbers instead of gut feel.
How to start is in the food delivery side hustle guide. Bags, phone mounts, and insurance are in food delivery startup costs. The first shifts are in your first week of food delivery. Other app work sits in the gig apps hub.
How does food delivery pay work in Canada?
Food delivery pay in Canada is usually base pay per offer plus promotions plus tips. DoorDash’s Canadian How Dasher Pay Works page says base pay ranges from $2 to $10+ per offer when a Dasher earns per offer, depending on estimated time, distance, and desirability, and its pay page says that when earning by time, base pay is based on a minimum guaranteed rate for active time.
| Pay or rule | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| DoorDash base pay, earn per offer | $2–$10+ per offer | DoorDash Canada help |
| Ontario minimum for platform work | General minimum wage for time on work assignments, tips excluded; $17.95/h from Oct 1, 2026 | Ontario DPWRA page, Ontario minimum wage |
| BC minimum for delivery and ride-hail | $21.89 per hour of engaged time from June 1, 2026, plus at least $0.35/km for delivery | BC minimum wage page |
| Employed food delivery drivers (benchmark) | $15.00 low, $20.00 median, $29.35 high per hour, Canada | Job Bank, NOC 75201, 2023–2024 |
“Engaged time” in BC starts when you accept an order and ends when you complete it or it is cancelled. Ontario’s page says a work assignment generally starts when you accept it. Waiting for the next offer is not covered in either province. BC’s overview of app-based worker standards also says tips are not included in the minimum wage calculation and 100% of tips must go to the worker. Rules differ by province; confirm the rules where you drive.
This guide does not publish average delivery earnings per hour in Canada, because no platform publishes a Canadian average we could verify.
What do food delivery drivers earn per order and per hour after costs in Canada?
What a food delivery driver in Canada keeps per hour is gross pay (base, promotions, tips) minus vehicle costs, divided by all the hours you were logged in, not just the minutes on orders. Track it weekly from your own payouts and odometer.
Step 1: Record gross pay per shift
Base pay, promotions, and tips from the app’s earnings screen.
Step 2: Record kilometres driven
Odometer at login and logout, including the drive home. The vehicle expenses guide explains the logbook.
Step 3: Set a cost per kilometre
Fuel, maintenance, tires, and depreciation divided by kilometres. This is your number from your receipts; this guide does not supply one.
Step 4: Divide by logged-in hours
Include waiting time. That gives your real hourly result.
Step 5: Hold back tax and CPP
Delivery income is self-employment income, and self-employed people pay both CPP shares; see CPP contributions and the tax set-aside guide.
Illustrative example
This is a teaching sketch with assumed numbers, not a forecast, average, or survey. Suppose a two-hour evening shift has 5 deliveries. Suppose base pay and promotions average $6 per order and tips average $4, so gross is 5 × $10 = $50. Suppose you drove 40 km, and your own records put vehicle costs at $0.25 per kilometre: 40 × $0.25 = $10.
Net before tax is $50 − $10 = $40, and $40 ÷ 2 hours = $20 per logged-in hour. Per order, that is $40 ÷ 5 = $8 net.
Suppose the same shift happened in BC with 1.4 hours of engaged time and 30 engaged kilometres. The provincial floor for the pay period would be 1.4 × $21.89 = $30.65, plus 30 × $0.35 = $10.50 for distance, for $41.15 before tips. Base pay in the sketch was 5 × $6 = $30, so the platform would owe a top-up toward the floor for that period. Tips are on top. Check your pay statement; the floor is calculated across the pay period, not per order.
How do you decide which food delivery offers to accept in Canada?
Decide which food delivery offers to accept in Canada with a simple floor: the offer must cover your target hourly pay for the minutes it takes, plus your cost per kilometre for the distance, including the drive back to a busy area.
Illustrative example. Suppose your target is $20 an hour net and your cost is $0.25 per kilometre. An offer estimated at 25 minutes and 8 km must pay at least (25 ÷ 60) × $20 + 8 × $0.25 = $8.33 + $2.00 = $10.33. An offer showing $7.50 including the tip estimate falls short; one showing $12 clears it.
| Offer (illustrative) | Minutes | Km | Floor at $20/h + $0.25/km | Offer pay | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short, close | 15 | 4 | $5.00 + $1.00 = $6.00 | $7.00 | Accept |
| Medium | 25 | 8 | $8.33 + $2.00 = $10.33 | $7.50 | Decline |
| Long, suburban | 40 | 18 | $13.33 + $4.50 = $17.83 | $16.00 | Decline unless it ends near demand |
Write your floor on a sticky note on the dash. It removes the guesswork at a red light.
How can food delivery drivers raise earnings per hour in Canada?
Food delivery drivers in Canada raise earnings per hour mainly by driving at busy times, staying in dense areas, declining offers below their floor, and cutting kilometres. You cannot set the price, so the levers are which offers and which hours.
Compare apps in your city over a few weeks using the same net-per-hour method. Multi-apping can reduce waiting time; check each app’s terms. A bike or e-bike in a dense core changes the cost per kilometre, though not the weather.
What food delivery earnings mistakes are common in Canada?
Common food delivery earnings mistakes in Canada are counting gross pay as income, ignoring waiting time, and accepting every offer to protect acceptance stats. Each makes the hourly number look better than it is.
Track kilometres from the start. Keep fuel and maintenance receipts. Remember that tips are excluded from the Ontario and BC minimum-wage calculations, and that waiting time is not covered.
How do GST/HST and income tax affect food delivery earnings in Canada?
Food delivery income in Canada is self-employment income reported on Form T2125. Food delivery follows the $30,000 small-supplier test for GST/HST, counting all your side hustles; the first-dollar registration rule applies to taxi and ride-sharing passenger services, not food delivery, so it only matters if you also carry passengers.
If you register, the rate depends on the province of supply, per the CRA’s charge and collect page. The platform income tax guide and GST/HST registration guide explain what platforms report and when to register.
Weekly payouts are easier to manage with tax set aside in a separate account. KOHO TODO-AFFILIATE is one Canadian option for keeping delivery income and the tax portion apart.
This is not tax, legal, or insurance advice.
Which guides sit next to food delivery earnings in Canada?
Food delivery earnings in Canada sit beside grocery shopping app earnings, package courier work, and rideshare driving, which uses a different GST/HST rule.
What are the common questions?
How much do food delivery drivers make per hour in Canada?
No platform publishes a Canadian average we could verify. Your hourly result is base pay, promotions, and tips minus vehicle costs, divided by all logged-in hours including waiting. Ontario and BC set minimum pay for time on assignments, but not for waiting time.
How much does DoorDash pay per order in Canada?
DoorDash's Canadian help centre says base pay is $2 to $10+ per offer when earning per offer, depending on time, distance, and desirability, plus promotions and 100% of tips. Check the current help page.
Is there a minimum wage for delivery drivers in Ontario and BC?
Yes. Ontario requires platforms to pay at least the general minimum wage, $17.95 an hour from October 1, 2026, for time on work assignments, excluding tips. BC requires $21.89 per hour of engaged time from June 1, 2026, plus at least $0.35 per kilometre for delivery. Waiting time is not covered.
Do food delivery drivers charge GST/HST in Canada?
Food delivery follows the $30,000 small-supplier test, counting all side hustles. The first-dollar rule applies to taxi and ride-sharing passenger services, not food delivery. This is not tax advice.
How do I decide whether a delivery offer is worth it?
Set a floor: your target hourly pay for the estimated minutes plus your cost per kilometre for the distance. Accept offers above it and decline those below it.
Which sources support this guide?
The rules, rates, and platform requirements in this guide are checked against these primary sources. Retail price ranges are labelled as ranges to verify locally, and they are not quotes.
- How Dasher Pay Works — DoorDash
- Dasher Pay: How DoorDash Delivery Drivers Get Paid — DoorDash
- Rights and protections for digital platform workers — Government of Ontario
- Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Minimum wage — Government of Ontario
- Minimum wage (including online platform workers) — Government of British Columbia
- Overview of Minimum Standards and Protections for App-based Ride-Hail and Delivery Services Workers — Government of British Columbia
- Food Delivery Driver in Canada: Wages — Government of Canada, Job Bank
- When to register for and start charging the GST/HST — Canada Revenue Agency
- Charge and collect the GST/HST — Canada Revenue Agency
- Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities — Canada Revenue Agency
- Contributions to the Canada Pension Plan — Government of Canada